Chapter 256

For the forum's request for help on this matter, those guild leaders had already discussed it with Shuigu Tang beforehand.

Shuigu Tang didn't think much either, simply nodded and agreed, and as a result the situation kept getting bigger.

Countless players came from all directions, not mentioning money or not, after a brief discussion they scattered in groups of three or five, and then heroes from all sides displayed their abilities, truly giving these Wokou a vivid lesson.

As soon as they found any trace left by the Wokou, a large crowd would immediately gather.

The more formal ones would reach out and grasp a faint remnant aura of the Wokou in the air, close their eyes on the spot, muttering incantations, then the Circular Light Technique drew a light circle, displaying the Wokou's image inside; the accompanying players cheered, glanced arrogantly at others, and eagerly pursued.

The less formal ones painted oil colors on their faces, first performing a bizarre dance in place, then slashing their wrists with a knife, letting the sprayed blood fall to the ground, seriously observing the pattern of the bloodstains, somehow divining something, and then they chased after with their companions.

There were also those who really had nothing to do, so they could only rely on numbers; after gathering a few hundred people, they would hold hands and form a line to push forward, treating mountains, forests, or wilderness as if combing a scalp.

And don't even mention it—this clumsy search method actually let them find two small Wokou squads; the over two hundred died miserably, being beaten by hundreds of people; after the crowd dispersed, aside from a puddle of minced meat on the ground, it was hard to tell that there had been two hundred people, but thanks to the help of these enthusiastic masses, the cleanup went unusually smoothly; in just two days and one night they had basically wiped out the nearby Wokou, yet those guild leaders were dumbfounded.

The Wokou were all killed, yet the number of light bamboo tokens they held was less than two thousand, far from reaching the standard set by Tugu for them.

What to do? Spend money! This time they didn't even dare to take out cash, fearing the players would think they were being humiliated.

After discussion, the guild leaders finally decided each person would contribute 1500 thousand taels of gold, raising a total of 20,000 taels, and then began purchasing on the forum at a price of three taels of gold per bamboo token.

Fortunately, the enthusiastic anti-R players hadn't lost their heads, and they successively brought out their bamboo tokens to start trading.

But the result left them somewhat dumbfounded.

Three minutes! In just three minutes, the 20,000 taels of gold were completely exhausted.

You know, Tugu originally said there were only over six thousand light tokens; besides the over one thousand seven hundred they had in hand, the rest should be only over four thousand three hundred, at most five thousand.

But how did this amount of nearly seven thousand come about?

After checking the transaction records later, they discovered there were over three thousand transactions, with IP addresses coming from the island nation, and this only stopped because the gold they had prepared beforehand was used up.

Moreover, below the trading post, many domestic players were protesting.

"@OP, weren't you supposed to be buying bamboo tokens? Why don't you take the money? I still have over a dozen here; you don't want them?"

"???"

"Let me confirm first—did we just trade away 20,000 taels of gold?"

"Upstairs, no need to confirm; it seems so."

"I went to the toilet, and when I came back the confirmation button for that trade had turned gray."

"Damn, are your hands really that fast?"

"Ah… any money left? I wasn't prepared just now; can we do it again?"

"I sold mine, got eighteen taels of gold in hand, startup capital secured, I'm about to take off!" The chaotic comments in the forum had nothing to do with those guild leaders anyway; since the required quantity was already met, they simply dropped the protesting players, took the bamboo tokens, and went to report to Tugu.

Tugu was quite responsible, also confirming the number of protesting players on the forum; after determining that the number of Wokou exterminated matched what was previously said, he then felt at ease letting Jiuyou contact Chen Shicheng.

When Chen Shicheng gathered nearly ten thousand bamboo tokens and handed over the Token Fragment in his possession to Tugu, he was completely dazed.

That fast? He hadn't even caught a glimpse of the main force's tail, yet here the extermination mission was already completed, and it even alerted the players on the island nation's side, resulting in a genuine internal conflict that added another two thousand to the bamboo token count!

And that was over six thousand people scattered everywhere, not six thousand pigs.

Even if it were six thousand frantic pigs, they wouldn't all be wiped out in just two days and two nights, would they!

It seems the domestic players are no longer satisfied with the title of 'construction maniac'; they want to switch to 'killing maniac.' How vexing!

Over six thousand Wokou all submitted, yet he still hadn't seen a shadow of the main force.

Chen Shicheng sat by the shore watching the surging waves, pondering all afternoon, yet still couldn't figure out whether it was the players being too fierce or him being too inept.

"Forget it, let's first go to the city to resupply, and meanwhile see if we can find any clues there."

Chen Shicheng shook his head, rose, and with a single Compress Earth to an Inch vanished from the spot, his form flickering as he headed toward the nearby big city.

Still a supply problem.

However, at first he worried that the exhausted supplies of the scattered Wokou would harm nearby fishing villages; now the little lackeys are dead clean, but that thousand‑strong main force still needs supplies.

Moreover, there had been no news of any fishing villages nearby being massacred, so their greatest possibility was to send people to purchase in the city.

He had actually overheard earlier that the Dongying envoy intended to activate all spies within the territory of Dayu.

These people have long been hidden in Dayu, their disguises and lifestyles showing no obvious difference from locals; they could fully purchase food supplies without being noticed, so perhaps something could be found in the city.

Guangquan City.

The fief of the Zhenhai King, a seaside city under quasi‑military management, with extremely strict defenses.

Of course, for someone like Chen Shicheng who comes and goes without a trace, even the strictest defenses are useless; it merely takes a minimal‑cost Compress Earth to an Inch for him to cross the wall and arrive at an empty alley.

According to plan, he first replenished his food at the largest tavern here, then began wandering the streets, of course focusing on finding grain shops.

The supplies needed for a force of over a thousand are not a trivial amount; it's absolutely impossible for him to resupply at the tavern just like himself.

However, the patrol soldiers on this road seemed a bit more numerous, comparable to the strictness of the capital after the Breaking Formation mission ended.

"Although this is the location of the Zhenhai Wangfu, isn't this defense a bit excessive?"

Chen Shicheng looked at the surrounding rows of solemn‑expression patrol soldiers, casually asked an old man by the street, and only then learned that previously there hadn't been such a level of guard; it was only two days ago that the Zhenhai King suddenly ordered citywide alert, turning it into this state. (End of chapter)